The church of big government

Seriously – since when do I care or get surprised about a politician who goes back on everything they said. Wasn’t I trained by the Clinton era to think “it’s the economy, stupid” as opposed to “I follow a man who sticks to his convictions, however wrong they might be”

Wasn’t I supposed to care about most transparent government? No lobbyists in Washington? Bi-partisanship known as “wait til DC shuts down and make appointments?” Bush era detainment camps and policies suck until Obama keeps them around?

Mitt Romney should be doing a walk of shame today, after reversing most of his irresponsible, hawkish foreign policy statements from the last year just to have a hot night with undecided female voters in the final debate. How does he live with himself?…I found it chilling.

Chilling that an opportunistic politician who’s in the final stretches of a race manages to articulate their positions in a different way?

And here’s the difference between a pragmatic libertarian and a committed progressive

There was a running commentary from a friend on facebook complaining about flip flopping. My answer: I don’t WANT core convictions from someone if they stick to their convictions in the face of their policies failing. I don’t want “if it didn’t work, try harder” – I want Napoleon “I engage and then I see”, not some ding dong German general who thinks their battle plans were perfect, it’s just those idiots implementing them (War and Peace reference)

This summarizes the reason progressives mystify me. Politics and participation in government has become a religious, moral substitute, not a necessary yet mundane task we have to do (like laundry) in order to live with one another, get along in the world while protecting our interests and be thoughtful responsible citizens. It’s some wacky, emotional mystical experience instead of a pragmatic thing we have to do in order to balance everyone’s interests and maintain our form of government.